Kazuya Mishima is a video game character in Namco Bandai's Tekken series. First
appearing in the first game as the protagonist, he has appeared in most of
the games in the series so far, with the notable exception of Tekken 3 and its
derivative games. The son of the CEO of worldwide
conglomerate Mishima Zaibatsu, Heihachi Mishima, Kazuya sought to take revenge
against his father for having thrown him down a cliff years prior. However, his
victory over Heihachi quickly revealed him to be no different than his father,
as he engaged in multiple corrupt practices that established him as one of
the series' antagonists. In particular, Kazuya's relationship with Jun Kazama
conceived their son, Jin Kazama, who opposed his father and for the most part
became the series' protagonist. Kazuya possesses the Devil Gene, a strange
mutation that could transform him into a demonic form known as Devil Kazuya. The
character has received positive reception.
Appearances = In video games=
According to Namco's official backstory, Kazuya is the son of Kazumi and Heihachi
Mishima, the long-time CEO of a powerful worldwide conglomerate called the
Mishima Zaibatsu, and grandson of Jinpachi Mishima. He has a foster
brother, Lee Chaolan, who was adopted by Heihachi, and also a half-brother, Lars
Alexandersson, Heihachi's illegitimate son. Most importantly, Kazuya is the
father of Jin Kazama through a relationship with Jun Kazama.
When Kazuya was five years old, he was thrown off a cliff by his father, who
claimed that his son was weak. If Kazuya was to be his father's successor to the
Mishima Zaibatsu throne, he was to not only survive the fall, but climb back up
the rocky cliff as well. Kazuya nearly died from the ordeal, but his survival
was assured through a raising of a malevolent energy called the "Devil
Gene", this malevolent energy gave him enough power to take his revenge on his
father. In the years prior to the events of the
original Tekken, Kazuya entered martial arts tournaments all over the world,
becoming an undefeated champion. Twenty one years since Kazuya was thrown off
the cliff, he entered The King of Iron Fist Tournament to take the opportunity
for vengeance. It is during the tournament that the original game takes
place. He is able to overcome all opponents and eventually manages to get
to the final round, where he battles Heihachi. Apathetic towards the
tournament's proposed one billion dollar prize and fueled by his hatred for his
father, Kazuya wins and drops Heihachi's unconscious body from the same cliff he
had been thrown from as a child. Tekken 2 then picks up two years
afterward. In this story, Kazuya has usurped the Mishima Zaibatsu and under
his leadership, engaged in many illegal activities such as assassination,
extortion, arms dealing and the smuggling of endangered species. Kazuya
then decided to announce a second King of Iron Fist Tournament. However, he was
shocked when he saw Heihachi, having survived both his battle with Kazuya and
the subsequent fall, entering the tournament. This time, Heihachi manages
to reclaim the Mishima Zaibatsu by defeating his son. Afterwards, Heihachi
throws Kazuya into the mouth of an erupting volcano, killing him
supposedly. The story for Tekken 3 begins by stating
that, before his defeat at the hands of Heihachi, Kazuya became intimate with
Jun Kazama, who then became pregnant. When Kazuya was thrown into the volcano,
parts of Devil left him and attempt to possess Jun's unborn child. Though she
defeated him, he was eventually able to possess the child, now fifteen year old
Jin Kazama after Jun had gone missing. Kazuya does not appear as a playable
character in Tekken 3, but he appears in Eddy Gordo's ending in a photo, and Eddy
realizes that he is the man behind the murder of his father. He also made a
cameo along with Jun during the arcade intro.
Kazuya returns as the main character in Tekken 4, which is set twenty one years
after Tekken 2. His prologue in the game states that he was revived by G
Corporation, a rival genetics company of the Mishima Zaibatsu, a few days after
his supposed death. Kazuya allows the company to perform various experiments
on him in order to learn the true nature of the Devil Gene within his body, but
an attack on the research facility by the Tekken Force impedes further
success. Kazuya fights the Tekken Forces off, and vows to get his revenge on
Heihachi in the recently announced King of Iron Fist Tournament 4, and at the
same time, extract the half of his Devil Gene stored in the body of his son, Jin
Kazama. Kazuya makes it to the finals and battles Heihachi, defeating his
father. Heihachi led Kazuya to Hon-Maru, a Mishima compound where Jin is being
held captive. Kazuya, influenced by Devil, knocks Heihachi out of the room
with his psychic powers and subconsciously taunts Jin in order to
wake him up. However, the plan backfires, and an enraged Jin defeats
both Kazuya and Heihachi in battle, but spares their lives after seeing a vision
of his mother, after which he takes flight.
Moments after Jin's departure from Hon-Maru, Kazuya and Heihachi are
assaulted by a squadron of Jack-4s sent to assassinate them by G Corporation and
for the Tekken force is raids on there laboratories. For a while Kazuya and
Heihachi fought off the Jacks together, as father and son. However, he knew that
they will eventually get overpowered, so he throws Heihachi in the direction of
the Jacks to as a lure. He jumps out of Hon-Maru, turns into Devil and leaves,
letting Heihachi die. Vowing to get revenge on G Corporation for their
treachery, Kazuya enters the King of Iron Fist Tournament 5.
Despite not winning the fifth tournament, Kazuya discovers the
division of G Corporation that tried to kill him, and brutally kills them all in
revenge, becoming the head of the company from the shadows he turns it
into a military company and is using it as the only powerful opposition to the
Mishima Zaibatsu, led by Jin, who has begun world conquest and declared war on
several nations. By this time, the world's population sees G Corporation as
its only saviour though Kazuya's real purpose is to kill Jin and take over the
world himself, and Kazuya uses the company's influence to his advantage: to
stop Jin from taking over his plans for world domination, Kazuya places a bounty
on Jin's head for whomever could manage to capture him alive and decides to
enter the King of Iron Fist Tournament 6 to settle the score once and for all
with his son. Kazuya appears as his devil form in the
crossover strategy RPG Namco × Capcom along with several other Namco and
Capcom personalities. He also appears in the non-canonical Tekken Tag Tournament,
where he was advertised heavily as well as its sequel, Tekken Tag Tournament 2
as one of the initial four fighters shown in the debut gameplay trailer. In
that game, he is able to morph into Devil during gameplay and gain several
new moves. He is finally made a playable debut in human form while also obtaining
his transformation into his devil form in sequel of Namco X Capcom's successor,
which is also crossed-over with Sega as well in Project X Zone 2 where he and
Capcom's Vergil of Devil May Cry series are an anti-heroes, and also team up
with his son, Jin for some reasons. Kazuya was one of the first characters
showcased for the crossover fighting game, Street Fighter X Tekken, produced
by Capcom. In the debut trailer, he defeats Dan Hibiki in order to confront
Street Fighter mascot Ryu. During the gameplay unveiling at the 2010 San Diego
Comic-Con International, they are shown in its gameplay. According to the game's
story, he seeks to take control of Pandora's Box in the hopes of using it
to control the Devil Gene, hiring Nina Williams to assist him.
Character design Kazuya is a muscular Japanese man with
black hair that formed a spike behind his head; his son, Jin, notably
inherited his hairstyle. He has brown eyes, although as of Tekken 4, his left
iris becomes red-colored to symbolize that the Devil Gene had manifested
further after his volcano incident. Kazuya debuted in the series at the age
of 26; as of Tekken 6, he is around 50 years old. He is commonly seen wearing
white karate pants with flame motif, red studded gloves and footpads, and no
shirt. His most common secondary outfit is a dark purple and red business suit
that originally appeared in Tekken 2 as a bonus costume. Kazuya's other
secondary outfits include a white tank top with casual jeans in Tekken, a blue
tank top underneath an unbuttoned white shirt and jeans in Tekken 2, and a
blue-grey business suit with sunglasses in Tekken 4.
It is often believed by fans that Kazuya is a homage to Vegeta from the Dragon
Ball franchise, since the two characters have many distinguishing similarities,
in concern of their character traits, their attitudes, and their
personalities. Also, their physical appearance, most noticeably their hair
styles, are similar also. Namco has however neither confirmed nor denied
that this was a homage or even intentional.
Gameplay Kazuya has been deemed one of the most
technical characters in Tekken by the fighting game community, if not the
most. Requiring highly precise command inputs and a good knowledge of the game
system. For example, he has the fastest standing juggle combo starter in the
game, allowing him to net aerial combos worth 50-60% damage when he capitalizes
on the opponent's mistakes; however this is limited by the difficulty of
executing the move as fast as possible. Similar scenarios can be encountered in
other aspects as well, so Kazuya is usually only played by players with a
high execution prowess. It has been noted in
VideoGamingFederation's Tekken Strat Corner podcast for Kazuya Mishima that
theoretically, with a brick-wall defense and perfect execution, he could possibly
be the best character in the game. = In other media=
In the OVA Tekken: The Motion Picture, which is loosely based on the first and
second games in the franchise, Kazuya is the protagonist. As in the game's story,
he is thrown off a cliff at a young age by Heihachi and saved by a deal with the
Devil. Following this, he becomes bent on revenge against Heihachi, and enters
the King of Iron Fist Tournament in order to confront him. Differentiating
the OVA from the game is that Kazuya crosses paths several times with Jun
Kazama, who repeatedly tries to implore him not to kill his father, and in the
end, after Kazuya defeats Heihachi, some emotional words from Jun finally reach
his heart and he manages to expel Devil's influence from within him,
reverting him to his kind, compassionate self once again. He thus spares
Heihachi's life and fathers Jin with Jun, but he is not seen again after the
tournament's conclusion. He is voiced by Kazuhiro Yamaji in the original Japanese
version and by Adam Dudley in the English dub.
In the 2010 live-action film Tekken, Kazuya is the antagonist and is
portrayed by American actor Ian Anthony Dale. In this version he has facial hair
and bears none of the video game character's bodily scars, possibly due
to the fact that the story calls for Kazuya and Jin to meet early in the film
without discovering their blood relation. Kazuya is Heihachi's
right-hand man in Tekken Corporation, wishing to take over his father's
company. Also, rather than being a hand-to-hand combatant, Kazuya relies on
melee weapons such as axes and Eskrima sticks. Furthermore, the Devil Gene
subplot is not used in the film. In the middle of the film he grows impatient
with Heihachi's compassion for Jin and eventually overthrows and orders him
executed After Jin wins the tournament, Kazuya challenges Jin to a one-on-one
duel. Although he initially beats Jin, Jin gets the upper hand and wounds
Kazuya critically, but refuses to kill him for the sake of their blood
relation, instead letting him live in eternal shame. Japanese American martial
artist-actor Kane Kosugi portrayed Kazuya in the prequel Tekken 2: Kazuya's
Revenge. Kazuya appears in the short film Street Fighter x Tekken: The Devil
Within portrayed by Mark Musashi. Kazuya appears in the CGI-animated movie
Tekken: Blood Vengeance, which is an alternate retelling of the events
between Tekken 5 and Tekken 6. Kazuya appears in the Tekken Tag Tournament 2
live-action short film portrayed by Kefi Abrikh. Kazuya also appears in the short
film Tekken Reload portrayed by James Adam Lim and Devil Kazuya voiced by Tony
Yeatropoulos. Reception
Gaming Target listed Kazuya as the third best Tekken character, citing his
history within the game as how he keeps reappearing despite his situations close
to death. Alongside his father Heihachi, Kazuya was labelled as one of the most
influential characters from the Tekken series by GameAxis Unwired. Both of them
were also listed as one of the worst parents in gaming by Kotaku with Kazuya
put for his antagonism with his son Jin while also being compared with Heihachi.
By the time of Tekken 4, IGN called Kazuya "the closest thing we may have to
a protagonist" in the series, citing his evil traits and his purposes to
participate in the series' tournaments. G4TV stated that his history with
Heihachi in the series was a reason to avoid writing storylines in fighting
games due to how ridiculous it is. His Lightning Screw Uppercut special move
was listed by GamesRadar as one of the most satisfying uppercuts in gaming's
history. GamesRadar named Kazuya as one of the "characters we wish we knew LESS
about", adding "Tekken’s Kazuya couldn’t remain the mysterious hero of the first
game… no, he had to be exposed as a greedy and corrupt overlord who sold his
soul to demons long ago." The same site also ranked him as the "top 6th...
fallen hero that became awesome villain", commenting "By Tekken 2,
Kazuya is consumed by the Devil Gene, and turns into an evil-doing,
power-hungry hybrid demon. Not only does he look way cooler, he's also
significantly stronger, making him one of the most formidable villains in
Tekken lore." Prima Games ranked Kazuya's Electric "Wind" God Fist as the
"47th greatest fighting move in video game history". ArcadeSushi ranked the
same move as the "6th most iconic fighting game move", while Thunderbolt
Games listed it as one of "Fighting Games' Most Infamous Combos", stating
"If you plan to compete in any of the current Tekken games, and looking to
play as a Mishima, it is not only imperative that you learn this move but
be able to execute it consistently." Arcade Sushi also ranked Kazuya as the
"5th best fighting game bad guy", commenting "It was around this time we
realized that Kazuya isn’t really a good guy, just the lesser of two evils, which
is really saying something." Thunderbolt Games ranked Kazuya as the "8th best
videogame anti-hero", adding "His subsequent attempts to kill his father
and later his son repeatedly fail, but that doesn’t stop him being a half-demon
kung fu fighting badass, despite his obvious psychological issues."
GamersDecide ranked Kazuya as the "8th most legendary fighting game character
ever", stating "Hero. Villain. Anti-hero. Demonic. Like Ryu, but with
the powers of a demon." Devil Kazuya was ranked by UGO.com as
15th "awesomest hidden character", citing the difficult requirements needed
to unlock him in the first game from the series. On the other hand, Devil Kazuya
was noted to be a stereotype of protagonists gaming characters who
reveal an evil alter-ego which ruins the character's appealing traits. Wired
Control placed Devil Kazuya(alongside Angel) at 3rd place in their rankings of
the Tekken bosses, with comments focused on their moveset and difficulty.
According to GamesRadar, a fight between Devil Kazuya and Akuma is one of the
ones players want to see in Street Fighter X Tekken because of the two
similarities between the two villains as well as the similarities in the
development of their designs. Complex listed Devil Kazuya from Tekken 2 as the
9th coolest boss battle in video games. Complex named Kazuya as one of the 25
characters they wanted to see in "Super Smash Bros. Brawl 4". Complex also
ranked Kazuya as "The 6th Most Dominant Fighting Game Character", commenting
"This tortured soul has gotten more badass as time wore on" and as the
number 1 best Tekken character, commenting "For his charismatic,
anti-hero persona, his varied gameplay, and his difficult-to-master, yet
effective command list, Kazuya Mishima is the greatest Tekken character of all
time." Complex also listed Kazuya as the "9th video game character with severe
daddy issues", commenting "First, Kazuya threw Heihachi off a cliff. Then,
Heihachi threw Kazuya into a volcano. Then, Kazuya blew up Heihachi with a
bomb. And somehow, they're both still alive - who knew that the lust for power
could transcend life itself?" FHM listed Kazuya and Ryu as one of the "10 Awesome
Fantasy Fights in Street Fighter X Tekken", adding "They’re the most
recognizable faces of their respective franchises, so this is sure to be a
battle of pride". In GamesRadar article for Street Fighter X Tekken, they stated
"This anti-hero turned out to be much more complex than most fighting game
leads, just don’t get on his bad side." PlayStation Universe included Kazuya and
Heihachi among the top 5 rival pairs in Tekken Tag Tournament 2, commenting
"Kazuya and Heihachi are powerhouses and, as practitioners of Mishima-style
Karate, make for a near-unstoppable Tag Team in the right hands." Shinkan
Crossing ranked Kazuya as the "4th toughest Tekken character" where they
commented on his feats and concluded "If anyone has the greatest strength of
will, its Kazuya Mishima." In 2015, WatchMojo ranked Kazuya as the "2nd top
Tekken character", adding "This character was the series’ first
protagonist, and he made for a perfect early icon." In the official poll by
Namco, Kazuya is currently ranked as the 18th most requested Tekken character to
be playable in Tekken X Street Fighter, at 6.51% of votes; additional 5.05%
votes were also cast for Devil, counted separately.
References